Acer Aspire V3-551G Fan and Overheating Problems

I have the Acer Aspire V3-551G (specifically the V3-551G-8454 model) and since I got it the laptop has had some overheating issues when I run games or Ubuntu. My solution to that was just to stop running games and Ubuntu, and besides that it's worked pretty well besides Explorer deciding to crash randomly (it doesn't happen too often though).

However, I've had the laptop for a while now and and not too long ago I noticed the fan would rarely become extremely loud. As the weeks went by, the sound became more frequent, especially if I moved the laptop even just a little while it was on, so I stopped moving the laptop. But now, even with the laptop sitting still on a table, there is about a 40%-50% chance that it will have an extremely loud fan when I start it.

What's weird is that sometimes I noticed the fan is too quiet too. When it does this I assume that the fan is actually off which shouldn't be happening because the laptop gets super hot. Sometimes after a while of silence the loud noise come up too, which is nice because now the fan is on, but is also not good because of the volume of the noise.

I'm pretty sure problem is coming from the GPU (or whatever the big fan on the left underside of the laptop is). I also suspect the fan had actually been the culprit of the overheating (which consequently caused Explorer to crash sometimes).

So because having an immobile laptop is a pretty big problem for me I decided to look up the problem and I found these topics. These users described the same exact problems as me:

http://community.acer.com/t5/2013-Archives/Acer-Aspire-V3-551G-Fan-Noise/td-p/125053

http://community.acer.com/t5/2014-Archives/acer-aspire-v3-fan-problems/td-p/161211

So I was wondering what can I do to fix this? I tried updating all the drivers but it didn't seem to do anything, and I don't feel confident in opening my laptop up. Do you think warranty service could cover this, or are there any other solutions I've overlooked?

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Wryder

I have a similar problem. my fan makes some kind of croaking noise jst before it starts to spin whenever i put on the system, and intermittently later on. I advise you don't open your system until you've exhausted other options. my own system is jst about 6 to 8 months old, so i am not looking forward to changing my fan anytime soon. have you tried looking through the base of your system to check for dust? you should search online. there are various supposed fixes worth checking out. i tried installing speedfan, which didn't detect my fans. as i couldn't risk opening my system to check the fan myself, which involved removing the keyboard and motherboard, i took it to a technician. came back, and the fan is still making that sound(incidentally, it didn't make the sound at the technician's), in addition to a new one i suspect is from the hard drive. In essence, if you later have to take it apart, make sure it's a real professional who knows what he is doing. And whatever works for you, please update this discussion. I'd like to check it out on my system. also try to run a hardware diagnostic. haven't had any success with that myself, but that's because i can't seem to find a software that works for acer. i jst opened a new discussion for that topic and hope i'll get a new reply soon.

IsaacLean

Wryder wrote:
I have a similar problem. my fan makes some kind of croaking noise jst before it starts to spin whenever i put on the system, and intermittently later on.

This is similar to what happens with my computer. When it first starts up, the fan makes that croaking noise, but then stops. Then the laptop will be quiet for a few minutes during and a little after startup. Then the loud noise will return, except it will stay that way for the rest of the time the laptop is on.

Wryder wrote:
I advise you don't open your system until you've exhausted other options. my own system is jst about 6 to 8 months old, so i am not looking forward to changing my fan anytime soon. have you tried looking through the base of your system to check for dust? you should search online. there are various supposed fixes worth checking out. i tried installing speedfan, which didn't detect my fans. as i couldn't risk opening my system to check the fan myself, which involved removing the keyboard and motherboard, i took it to a technician. came back, and the fan is still making that sound(incidentally, it didn't make the sound at the technician's), in addition to a new one i suspect is from the hard drive. In essence, if you later have to take it apart, make sure it's a real professional who knows what he is doing. And whatever works for you, please update this discussion. I'd like to check it out on my system. also try to run a hardware diagnostic. haven't had any success with that myself, but that's because i can't seem to find a software that works for acer. i jst opened a new discussion for that topic and hope i'll get a new reply soon.

I tried opening the easiest bottom panel of the laptop (it only requires unscrewing) but it didn't really show much of the inside. Still, I used a can of compressed air to clean out what I could. Most of the insides require you to do as you said, to take off the keyboard and motherboard, which is a lot of dangerous work that I'm not really wiling to do unless it's a last resort. Also I think opening up your laptop that deeply voids its warranty which is something I'm still considering, but at the same time I don't even know if I have warranty left or if they will even cover fixing this. Anyway, I found a disaasembly video and it's not pretty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAAjcEMBZfI

I have tried running SpeedFan already, but on this machine it doesn't let me control the fan speeds. It does however still tell me the temperatures for my HDD and GPUs though, so at least there's that. I haven't tried running any other hardware diagnostics since I don't know what to use. The only thing I've really done is I tried upgrading all the important Windows updates, tried upgrading all of my drivers, and tried cleaning my computer (virus scanning, disk cleaning utilities, etc.) and nothing has seemed to help.

I was thinking of trying to only enable integrated graphics and disabling the dedicated GPU in the BIOS, but 1) there weren't any options in the BIOS related to GPUs that I could find and 2) I don't think I have a true integrated GPU, only two dedicated GPUs where one is weaker than the other for power saving reasons. If anyone can check this, please do. The laptop has an AMD Radeon HD 7640G + 7670M and an AMD Quad-Core Processor A8-4500M,

I will let you know what I do and if anything works/doesn't work.

Wryder

One thing I haven't done is download my updates, although I'm not sure how that will help. By the way, how old is your system? Acer hardware seems a bit unreliable.

Wryder

hey. not sure this is a permanent solution, but the past two days, I made sure my room/laptop had better ventilation. i haven't heard that noise once. maybe it's not permanent, but maybe my fan was having to overwork itself. maybe you should check that angle?

trescardo

Hello. I'm the owner of an Acer laptop just like yours, and I experienced the same issue recently. I could not play games for more than an hour or so because my computer would shut down, the same problem happened when I tried to run a deep scan with programs like Avast or Malware bytes. I tried everything from cleaning the vents from the outside with a toothbrush, to using a cooling pad, but the problem persisted.

I did a clean install of Windows 7 thinking that it might be a virus or something, but nothing really changed. At last, I noticed that my laptop would run cooler on battery mode than plugged in, and I could actually perform some tasks like intensive antivirus scans with my laptop running on battery mode. So I decided to create a power plan with the same specifications as the moderate one on battery mode and use it with my laptop plugged in. I've been using it ever since, and so far it seems like the problem is solved. I've been playing Mass Effect 2 for 3 hours non-stop, and I've already ran several scans with Malware Bytes and Avast, and everything has run smoothly. Besides, my laptop feels way cooler than before.

I hope this helps.

Zonambulous

Hi, I'm an electronics technician and I've come across the exact same problem with the fan not running when the cpu is a a high temp: 89-95C then at that point the laptop shuts off or locks up from overheating.

Laptop:

Acer Aspire V3-551-8469

board model: VA50_CM (socket FT1) ver. 2.14

Chipset: k15 IMC

mfg date: 2012/10/12

SB: AMD 08 FCH

BIOS: 2.14

updating to latest bios does not change the behavior of the fan.

Windows 8 Home x64 Factory refresh

Ubuntu 14.04 amd64 clean load

Windows 7 pro x64 clean install

cleaned fan/heatsink, and reapplied thermal compound to CPU.

HDD: western digital 500GB sata-2 updated to latest firmware provided by acer support page.

GPU: acer X163W on AMD Radeon HD 7640G (Average temp on light use: 35C)

CPU: Quad core AMD A8-4500M (average temp on idle: 85-105C, and currently with a cooling pad, keeps it from locking up. but not much other than that.)

Fan only seems to come on on post, bios initializing and bios update.

Fan: Sunon Maglev MF60090V1-C190-G99

fan specs: 5VDC / 2Watts / .5A

fan works just fine when 5VDC applied directly to power pins with an external regulated power supply, so it is not the fan.

this could be a problem with the voltage regulator on the board that supplies the fan. Not uncommon for regulators to get weak over time, but also not common for a 5V fan regulator do go bad in 2 years of light use when it comes to laptop boards.

I'm guessing cheap components in that section, will verify the voltage from board to the fan later on to confirm.

If components on the board are weak/faulty, they will be hard to source, or board replacement required.

WORK AROUND SOLUTION- [SOLDERING SKILL REQUIRED] :

block off one of the USB ports externally and solder 1-2mm thick wire directly to fan. Then it would be on when the laptop is on.

- 5V DC from USB port to 5VDC fan

- Ground wire to chassy or the ground pin from same usb port.

- Keep 3rd pin from fan in board connector to motherboard for temperature reporting. [most boards will shut off on post when they detect missing fan]

Pros: Laptop will cool properly since the fan will be on literally all the time.

- can game again.

-won't shut down from overheating.

Cons: Soldering and disassembly required, Static safe environment/bench/strap.

- very small 3 pin fan connector.

- you lose a usb port, since you won't want to plug in a device there and over-draw the Current limit on USB port. .5A is common for laptops and desktops usb 2.0, current is higher for usb 3.0.

- Fan will be on literally all the time. So if your fan is noicy, replace it at this time, check ebay.

Revised WORKAROUND: if enough skill with solderign and imagination, you can use a small potentiometer and mount to side of the laptop, or cut small hole out by the vent to route cable to it.

This will be the voltage regulator and you can adjust the speed of the fan by

having the "Pot" absorb some of the voltage.

See local eletronics store, they are cheap. couple of $ and many sizes, I would suggest a 1000 ohm or even a 500ohm.

google how to wire pot for voltage regulator. 3 pins.

I hope this provides some answers with my experience. I wish Acer would provide technical feed back for this.

please reply if you have any suggestions and procede with my suggested work-around with causion and know that its at your own risk. Have a trained technician do this if possible.

TheNouZ

I have been trying just about everything to fix this problem. Cleaning it out with air and a fine duster, sending it to repair, replacing the heatzink, even had the company i bought it from replace the entire motherboard because it was still under warrenty and after that I gave up. Maybe it will just always be this way. But I'm not kidding. After owning it for almost 5 years I finally found something that works.

It doesnt require you to open the hardware. It doesnt require you to install anything. And best, it doesnt require you to buy anything. Atleast if youre working on windows 7 64-bit like myself.

Sounds too good to be true? I think so too. I installed speedfan like others on this page and my core and GPU would usually rest around 70C on idle and quickly go over 100C when starting any moderately demanding game. I tried to update my graphics drivers and after uninstalling the current ones it sent my laptop into a heat-spiral. It would overheat and shut down within minutes of startup and I was sure this was the last days of my laptop. Lesson learned. Install the drivers from acers webpage and dont mess with them. You can find the drivers easily by using the serial number on the button of your laptop.

Here is what you do:
Go to control panel -> Search "power plan" -> choose "Edit power plan" -> click "Change advanced power settings" -> in the new popup, find "Processor power management and open it -> Change system cooling policy to "active" and the "Maximum processor state". I changed mine to 50% and saw my core and GPU idle tempature drop to 50-55C.

My laptop still uses all 4 cores 100% when processing, and I didnt see any significant change in the processing time.

I am not educated in IT or anything like it but it seems to only affect how much power is allocated to the processor when doing heavy lifting. And since the processors arent what is holding the laptop back, all that power and ultimately heat, is just a waste.

I hope this helps anyone going through this. If I notice any negative outcome of this, I will post here Smiley Happy

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